Sania excited to win back-to-back Grand Slam titles

Hyderabad, Sep 15 (IANS) India’s tennis ace Sania Mirza has dedicated her US Open women’s doubles title to the people and said that she is excited to win back-to-back Grand Slam titles.

Sania, who along with her Swiss partner Martina Hingis, bagged the US Open title on Sunday, returned home in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Family members, friends and well-wishers accorded her a warm welcome at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

Talking to reporters, she said winning two back-to-back titles (Wimbledon and US Open) were the best period of her career.

Sania said even if she had not won US Open, it wouldn’t have been a disappointment as she had a very good year so far.

She admitted that she didn’t get much time to practice for US Open as she had to come to India to receive Rajiv Khel Ratna award.

“I came back for Khel Ratna. It was a huge honour. I took that risk of coming back few days before US Open. We picked up at the right time. We have played amazing game for whole two weeks,” she said.

“We have been playing better and better with every match. Even the matches we lost were close matches and big matches like semis or finals,a she said referring to the defeats in couple of tournaments before the US Open.

Sania said she and Hingis had great chemistry between them. “We played really. We get on well off the court and it shows on court.”

The top seed pair won Wimbledon title in July. It was Sania’s first doubles title at Grand Slam.

Sania said she would now focus on Australian Open and before that will play couple of other tournaments.

She said her father Imran Mirza had a big role in her success as her coach. Imran said her daughter was on top of her career.

With her younger sister Anam’s engagement scheduled on Wednesday, Sania said she was very happy to be with the family on time for the big occasion.

Sania’s mother Naseema said it was because of Sania’s hard work and determination that she achieved the success, overcoming all odds. She recalled that in 2010 it looked as if the injury would finish Sania’s career but she sacrificed singles and focused on doubles to bounce back.